Toro!!!
We understand these posts are becoming less and less frequent, we're working on that, having an interesting life isn't easy, but we owe it you...Last week Kirsten's brother Jason came to visit for a week. He's the first 2-time visitor (who isn't a British national) - so congrats Jason. He also will be the last guest to use the 2nd bedroom in Islington, as of today we are south London residents, but more on that later.
Last Wednesday Kirsten, Ja and I headed over to Portugal for 3 days. We had our homebase in Lisbon but rented a car so that we could expand our circle of experience. For some reason I get to be the designated driver in Europe, this doesn't mean being sober (although that is one of the qualifications) rather it's a case of testing my mettle cruising the streets and trying to interpret the road signs in foreign countries. Thankfully Ja is an excellent navigator and managed to get us everywhere we wanted to go and allow me to focus on driving (I only ran one EZ Pass toll booth and a few red lights).
The highlights of our trip:
>>Bull fighting - by luck we were there and walking out of our hotel (right across the street from the arena) on the night of a bull fight. We woke Kirsten up and grabbed 3 seats about 4 rows off the floor. It was an amazing experience. There were 2 parts. Firstly one of three horsemen came out and stabbed the bull in the shoulders while avoiding getting upended (they cut off the bulls pointy horns so it was a bit cheap). After they were done there were two teams who were competing, or so it seemed. In what is an animal rights activist's dream, one member of the team would have to approach the bull and get as close as possible before the bull decided to charge. This insane individual would then need to grab the bull around the head and hold on for dear life until his team members swarmed the bull and prevented it from continuing to pound the poor skinny Portugese man hanging on for dear life. We were very glad to not have to witness the bull being killed in the ring, which is more common in some other country's bull fighting. (I have since learned that the bulls were killed in private once they left the arena - there goes the decent feelings we had leaving the arena).
>>Food - Portugal does seafood very well. It factored into everyone of our meals during the course of the trip. The last day we were desperate for something other than fish, but it was hard to find a suitable alternative. Thankfully the grilled sea bass, cod, etc. was excellent so please don't shed any tears for us. One of the unique features of a Portugese meal is the table apps. The restauranteur will bring out olives, bread and cheese (sometimes other items such as sardine pate and fish roe salad). If you have any of it, you bought it. They charge by the selection and often tourists are confused by the extra charge on their bill. Thankfully we are sophisticated world travelers and were not thrown off by this. Jason and Kirsten were very pleased to learn the international sign for "Can we have the bill, please?" It is something I excel at and would be more than happy to teach anyone, guaranteed 100% effective no matter where you are in the world.
>>Atlantic Coast - For most people reading this the Atlantic Coast is that which borders the East Coast of the US. This was the first time I had the pleasure of experiencing the Atlantic Coast on the West Coast (of Europe). The water is just as cold, but the beaches are gorgeous. We took time out from one of our trips to have a post lunch dip. Once you get over the initial shock of the cold water it's really refreshing. Unforunately, you never get over the initial shock of naked people, who should not be naked in public places. I consider myself very accepting, but there are limits.
>>Port - Portugal is after all the land of Port, even though it's a British invention. We visited the House of Port in Lisbon and tried several different types of port (white, tawny, ruby, 20, 30, 40 yr old). We are truly conniseurs now. We also visited one of the largest and most well known wineries in Portugal, Jose Maria de Fonseca. Of course we may have picked up a couple of bottles to mark the occassion, perhaps we'll share with the next visitors - book your trips now.
>>Fado - not the Irish pub chain but a traditional form of music. It's music of longing and sorrow and we were lucky enough (touristic enough?) to find a restaurant in the Barrio Alto that served good food and had three excellent Fado singers to entertain us throughout the meal. In hindsight the food wasn't that great but one of the singers was outstanding so it made it all worth it.
We'll be uploading pictures into our photo gallery soon so drop an email (or comment to the blog) and we'll pass them on. It could take a couple of weeks since we need to get re-connected in our new flat and considering how long it took the first time we should be set-up sometime next spring...
So enjoy this last post from Hennigan outpost North London. When next you hear from us we'll be South Londoners, in most people's eyes that switch is treasonous, oh well.
Sleep well fair readers.
posted by Brian and Kirsten Hennigan @ Sunday, September 16, 2007
1 comments
